WREXHAM manager Denis Smith was scathing in his assessment of referee Paul Taylor's performance at Home Park on Saturday.

The Dragons finished the game with nine men and will lose defender Craig Morgan and captain Darren Ferguson to suspension in a fortnight's time. Both players were twice cautioned by the Cheshunt official, ruling out any chance of an appeal by the club.

"I think the referee has got a record for getting things wrong and it looks as though he wants to continue it for the rest of the season," said Smith afterwards.

"I thought Craig Morgan's tackle for which he got the first booking was possibly the best tackle of the game. The second was for a body-check but they were doing it all game without punishment, and he didn't see there were two sides playing.

"You're wasting your time and energy appealing anyway. You have to get on with it and unfortunately you get good and bad officials, just as you get good and bad players. We have to live with that."

The Racecourse boss claimed with some justification that Morgan's dismissal changed the course of the game, even though teenage debutant Simon Spender came on to put in a solid performance.

"I thought we were getting on top when Craig was sent off, so that was disappointing," he added.

"We knew it would be difficult in the first 45 minutes until they ran themselves out, and then we were trying to pass it and give them a few problems.

"We were under a lot of pressure, so we held the wing-backs back and tried to knock it into the midfield three, and we dealt with it. Did they have shot on target in the first half, considering how much play they had?

"In the second half, again we made it difficult for them and things didn't drop for them in the box.

"Once Craig went off we had to bring on a second-year scholar and for him to do what he did in that sort of atmosphere speaks volumes for his character.

"We had a lot of defending to do but we still managed to get forward and it's disappointing not to win, to be honest."

Smith admitted the impending suspensions could have an impact on Wrexham's play-off hopes but claimed his players would not give up on their dream.

"Finishing with nine men means I have got to find some players from somewhere for games to come," he said.

"But if you look how we've played of late, against QPR, Swindon, Cardiff and today, that was more like us. At the moment I quite like what I see and we've got to continue that in the games we've got left and see what we can achieve.

"You can see the desire in the lads. They still believe they've got a chance of reaching the play-offs and on performances like today and like Wednesday's, they deserve recognition for it."